Make The World A Better Place

[Tango Alpha Delta]

Learning Spanish is another one... or if not Spanish, French, German, Japanese, etc. A foreign exchange student in high school told me a joke that goes:
What do you call someone who speaks three languages? Tri-Lingual
What do you call someone who speaks two languages? Bi-Lingual
What do you call someone who speaks one language? American

I've heard that one many times... and usually from UK-landers!  (They hate being called that, by the way.  )

But just some further food for thought on the language barrier; I was a Russian linguist in the Air Force.  (Actually, they started me off with Korean, but my system generated too many anti-bodies, and it was rejected by my brain.)  But after 47 weeks of intensive training, my language level was about where the average 4-year college course would have been.  Basically, that should illustrate the effort required to reach level 2 (on a scale of 0 to 5) on the Defense Language Proficiency Tests:
    * Reading: sufficient comprehension to read simple, authentic written material in a form equivalent to usual printing or typescript on subjects within a familiar context
    * Listening: sufficient comprehension to understand conversations on routine social demands and limited job requirements.

So, my point: it takes a tremendous effort to acquire even rudimentary language skills.

Factor in the trouble most Americans have with *listening*, and "furr'ners" are even more at a disadvantage.  I've worked with/studied with people from Guyana and India who were constantly teased or treated with hostility because of their accents.  "Mr. Singh" was Guyanese, and people would yell at him "why don't you learn English better?" -- which was cruelly ironic from a grammar standpoint... but also cruelly ironic because English was his only language.  Guyana and India are both English-speaking countries.

Of course, I seem to be preaching to the choir here... but I never seem to be in a position to answer the ignorant when they rear up their empty heads.

[Thaurismunths]

Of course, I seem to be preaching to the choir here... but I never seem to be in a position to answer the ignorant when they rear up their empty heads.

I can't help but wonder if the Hydra that Hercules faced was a metaphor for the ignorant masses. You bash one ignorant head, and two more vacuous ones spring up in its place.

[Chodon]

"Mr. Singh" was Guyanese, and people would yell at him "why don't you learn English better?" --

When I was in Japan if I made an effort to stammer through a sentence people were praising me as a master of the Japanese language.  Sure, they were just being polite.  Nobody knew what the hell I was saying, so they just told me I spoke Japanese well.  I even told one shopkeeper (on accident) "thanks for nothing" instead of "thank you very much".  He still bowed and acted impressed at my linguistic skills.

I wish Americans could be more like that with people trying to learn English.  It encouraged me to speak better and didn't leave me feeling like an idiot.  Odds are those people are speaking English better than most Americans can speak their language.  At least they're making an effort.

[Russell Nash]

"Mr. Singh" was Guyanese, and people would yell at him "why don't you learn English better?" --

When I was in Japan if I made an effort to stammer through a sentence people were praising me as a master of the Japanese language.  Sure, they were just being polite.  Nobody knew what the hell I was saying, so they just told me I spoke Japanese well.  I even told one shopkeeper (on accident) "thanks for nothing" instead of "thank you very much".  He still bowed and acted impressed at my linguistic skills.

My family is hell on shopkeepers here.  My wife and I talk in English.  She talks to the kids in German.  I talk to them in English.  We all talk to the shopkeepers in German.  My kids change their language depending on who they're talking to.

When my kids get what we were there for, normally croisants at the bakery; I tell them to say thank you.  They turn to the workers and say, "Danke".  The store keepers don't normally know how to respond.  They smile at the kids and then they pause for a moment.  Quite often their response is, "please". 

[Nt 2 B TKN INTRNLY]

I wish Americans could be more like that with people trying to learn English.  It encouraged me to speak better and didn't leave me feeling like an idiot.  Odds are those people are speaking English better than most Americans can speak their language.  At least they're making an effort.

I think that's true for many langueges; my father learned to speak Ukranian, to speak to most of my mother's family, and he speaks it impecably. While, most of the rest of us, trip over our own words a little too much, so to speak.